In the process of shipping an item from one location to another, a protective packaging material is typically placed in the shipping case, or box, to fill any voids and/or to cushion the item during the shipping process. Some conventional protective packaging materials are plastic foam peanuts and plastic bubble pack. While these conventional plastic materials seem to perform adequately as cushioning products, they are not without disadvantages. Perhaps the most serious drawback of plastic bubble wrap and/or plastic foam peanuts is their effect on our environment. Quite simply, these plastic packaging materials are not biodegradable and thus they cannot avoid further multiplying our planet's already critical waste disposal problems. The non-biodegradability of these packaging materials has become increasingly important in light of many industries adopting more progressive policies in terms of environmental responsibility.
The foregoing and other disadvantages of conventional plastic packaging materials have made paper protective packaging material a very popular alternative. Paper is biodegradable, recyclable and renewable, making it an environmentally responsible choice for conscientious industries. Furthermore, paper protective dunnage material is particularly advantageous for use with particle-sensitive merchandise, as its clean, dust-free surface is resistant to electrostatic buildup.
While paper in sheet form could possibly be used as a protective packaging material, it is usually preferable to convert the sheets of paper into a pad-like or other relatively low density dunnage product. This conversion may be accomplished by a cushioning conversion machine, such as those disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,968,291 and 5,123,889. The therein disclosed cushioning conversion machines convert sheet-like stock material, such as paper in multi-ply form, into a pad-like dunnage product having longitudinally extending pillow-like portions that are connected together along a stitched central portion of the product. The stock material preferably consists of two or three superimposed webs or layers of biodegradable, recyclable and reusable thirty-pound Kraft paper or the like rolled onto a hollow cylindrical tube. A thirty-inch wide roll of this paper, which is approximately 450 feet long, will weigh about 35 pounds and will provide cushioning equal to approximately four fifteen cubic foot bags of plastic foam peanuts while at the same time requiring less than one-thirtieth the storage space.
Specifically, these machines convert the stock material into a continuous strip having lateral pillow-like portions separated by a thin central band. This strip is connected or coined along the central band to form a coined strip which is severed or cut into sections of a desired length. The cut sections each include lateral pillow-like portions separated by a thin central band and provide an excellent relatively low density pad-like product which may be used in place of conventional plastic protective packaging material.
As shown in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 08/109,124 and 08/155,931, a cushioning conversion machine may be situated below the work platform of a dispensing table. In such an arrangement, the cushioning product, or pad, travels from the generally horizontal machine through an output chute where the pad is directed upwardly to emerge through an opening in the work platform. In this manner, the pad is deposited on the work platform during operation of the machine. Consequently, an operator can conveniently grab the pad and place it in a shipping box to fill any voids and/or to cushion an item in the shipping box.
While such a device works well for a number of pads or where sufficiently long pads are being produced, if only a small number of short pads are desired, these short pads may not fully emerge from the output chute and thus cannot be conveniently retrieved by the operator.
It would be desirable for a cushioning conversion device, which is situated beneath a work platform, to deposit pads on or at the platform for use by an operator without regard to the length or number of pads produced.